Six Dark Months
by Mentalgal
Summary: We all loved the season four finale... but it left out SIX adorable months of Lisbon missing Jane! I'm not making it up - you all saw! Lisbon admitted she had a rough time coping with Jane's absence! So... Here's my version! Please Read! Jisbon of course! Maybe Rigspelt... we'll see I guess :3 Enjoy! And PLEASE REVIEW!
1. You're Sweet

Hey Everyone! :D So we only just saw the season finale of the Mentalist last week here in Australia, and I found one thing they could have done better, somehow, is to let us in on what happened during those six months! (the six months between Episode 22 Red Rover Red Rover, and episode 23, Crimson Hat) I mean, it's a long time, and there are hints all through Crimson Hat that Lisbon had a really hard time coping with Jane being gone and not contacting her. So I decided I would write what I think could have happened.

**Chapter 1. You're Sweet**

Lisbon watched the small smile and messy blond hair disappear behind elevator doors as they closed, blocking her off. Her vision blurred slightly. She blinked her eyes clear, still staring at the elevator, as if her glare would open them again. What was Jane trying to do? It wasn't like him… he'd gone pretty far in cases before, but never _this_ far… never so far as to torture a man… and to provoke Wainwright as he did.

This wasn't the time or place to panic. The sound of footsteps caused Lisbon to quickly wipe her eyes with her shirt-sleeve and spin around in one quick movement. It was Grace.

"What's up with Jane, Boss?" Grace's curious yet concerned expression burned into Lisbon's confusion.

She wished she had an answer…

"I gotta go. Tell Wainwright." Lisbon stormed off through the door next to the elevator, leading to the stairs down to the car-park.

"Tell Wainwright what?" Grace questioned, but there was only a closing door as an answer. Some of her red hair fell from behind her ear into her eyes and she brushed it away as she turned from the elevator and headed back into the bullpen.

…

When Lisbon burst out of the entry to the CBI, Jane's trademark Citroen was nowhere to be seen. Somehow she knew there was no use trying to stop him. Her head was buzzing with confusion, worry, and a little hint of something that she wasn't sure of. She rushed over to her car, fumbling with the keys.

…

Wainwright had sent the other three agents home, they had no case, no boss, and Jane was gone, they might as well have the rest of the day off. He watched from the bullpen window as Lisbon's car pulled out and onto the road.

…

Lisbon was pretty sure she was well over the speed limit on the way to Jane's house in Malibu. She hoped he was there, so she could talk to him, calm him down, help him. She _had_ offered, and he hadn't really said much of an answer. "You're sweet." What did he mean? Yes or no? Lisbon took it as a yes as she pulled into his drive. She could already see that there were no lights on inside, but she turned off the engine anyway, undid her seatbelt and reached for the car door, but stopped herself. She had to clear her mind. What was she going to say? How could she _say_ anything when she didn't know how to _feel_? She dropped her hands into her lap and looked down at them.

'Sweet." She whispered.

After breathing for a while, and clearing up some of the confusion in her head, she opened the door and stepped out. Even though it was dark, it was still pretty warm. It was summer after all. She walked swiftly up the drive and right up to his door, then stopped again. She could see the car-port from the corner of her eye, and there was certainly no Citroen inside.

Deep down, the whole time she was driving she'd known he wouldn't be there. She turned, leant her back against his door and let herself slip down so she was sitting on his porch, her back still against his door. She looked down at her hands again. Where was he? What was wrong? What wasshe doing?

After sitting for about a minute or two, she stood and faced the door.

*knock knock knock*

"JANE! Jane! You in there?"

*knock knock knock*

"Jane! Tell me what's wrong!"

As she finished her sentence she realised how stupid this was. He. Wasn't. Here. Yelling at his house wouldn't do anything.

"God DAMMIT JANE!" She kicked the door, pain shooting up her leg. She jogged back down the stairs of his porch, down the drive and into her car.

Turning on the radio, she started driving home. The song 'In My Veins' by Andrew Belle played and she turned it up, forgetting her confusion and worry as she belted out the tune.

So that's the opening guys! Let me know what you think! PLEASE! Reviews are really the only thing that keep me writing hehehe it's true. Thanks so much for reading :D (And yes Castle fans. In My Veins. XD)


	2. Messages

Thanks so much all for the reviews so quickly! I only have three, but it's only been a night and I hope more people start to read and review soon. However I really do appreciate the three awesome reviews I have received so far, from my friends Donnamour1969, Steelesimz, and of course the wonderful review from the guest reviewer, SBLover, They all mean so much! And of course, have encouraged me to write this next chapter :D Enjoy!

Chapter 2. Messages.

Lisbon awoke. It was 5.30am and as she squinted at her surroundings, sitting up, she realised she must have fallen asleep watching TV after getting home from Jane's. Suddenly the memories from the previous day flooded back, and she frowned when she remembered her reaction to him leaving. How embarrassing. She stood, and flattened out her work shirt, then bent down to get the remote off the floor and placed it on the coffee table.

Heading over to the table, she started half humming, half singing the tune from the radio last night.

'Oooh you're hmm hmm hmm… and I can not get hmmm hmmm…'

(_Oooh, you're in my veins, and I can not get you out…_)

She got the coffee out of the cupboard and began brewing her wonderful drink. Aside from Jane, this was the only thing she couldn't live without.

Aside from Jane. How could he leave like that? She finished stirring her coffee and walked back to the couch. She placed the coffee on the table beside her and turned on the TV. But, she wasn't really watching.

Lisbon was staring down at her carpet. Thinking. Would she ever see him again? It had only been one night. This was definitely an overreaction. She shook her head in an attempt to clear those silly worries. What's the worse that could happen?

After about ten minutes of just sitting, her coffee growing cold beside her, Lisbon stood and walked over to her home phone. Just to check.

'You have ONE new message'

Her eyes widened and she couldn't help but smile as she pressed play on the answering machine.

"Hey Lisbon… This is

Thank god, Jane thought to call. This would settle her worries for good.

"This is Wainwright. Just checking to see that you were coming in today, and

Lisbon pressed the delete button with a little more force than necessary. Of course Jane wouldn't call. Something was wrong with him… But he'd contact her soon. Right?

She headed upstairs and started a shower, and slowly undressed from the previous day's clothes, then stepped inside. The water was nice, just the right temperature, and it helped to still her thoughts and let her think clearly for the first time in about eighteen hours. She should text him. That's all. Text him and ask what he's doing. She nodded at this thought, and proceeded to wash her hair.

…

Van Pelt and Cho were already in the bullpen, wrapping up the evidence in Benjamin Marx's case, so they could try to get him for murder in court. Rigsby arrived at about 8, smiling as usual about _his_ Benjamin. But then he saw the brown leather couch in the corner of the bull-pen and remembered, and silently moved to his desk, exchanging sorry glances with Van pelt on the way.

…

When Lisbon arrived at the CBI car-park, and saw Jane's usual space taken by a CBI SUV, she took out her phone and selected his name, then began typing Jane a message as she walked into the CBI and lined up at the metal detector line.

'Hey Jane. U ok? Call me.'

"Heya Lisbon!" Lisbon sent the message and looked up. It was Kevin, manning the metal detector.

"Morning K. How goes things?"

"Alright I guess. Sorry to hear about Jane though."

"Oh. It's no biggie, he deserved it I guess," Lisbon placed her phone and bag on the tray and headed through the detector, then once retrieving her things, to the elevator.

Thanks for reading guys! I promise more will happen once she's alone xD Please review, let me know what you think of this one :D


	3. Denial At Work

Hey! Yes I am in fact supposed to be doing homework but…I got a review! ALREADY! *hugs SBLover* So I decided to update :D And thankyou to everyone else who is still reading! Please Enjoy! :D and PLEASE REVIEW!

**Chapter 3: Denial at Work**

Lisbon had been sitting in her office doing practically nothing for about twenty minutes since arriving at the CBI. Her mobile was on her desk, but she'd stopped staring at it about ten minutes ago. Now she was staring at her coffee. Just… thinking. Listening.

…

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Grace asked Rigsby, keeping her voice down as they sat, caseless, in the bullpen, none of them insensitive enough, or was it - brave enough, to go ask Lisbon what to do.

"Yeah, of course he'd ok. I mean – what's the worse that could happen right?" Rigsby offered a small smile.

"I hope so…"

Cho had looked up from his book, eyeing the two, making himself part of the conversation.

"I'm not worried about Jane." Cho spoke up, causing the two agents to look from each other, to him.

"I'm worried about the Boss."

"Me too," said Grace, peering over in the direction of Lisbon's office. The blinds were closed.

"Ok guys, we have a case." Lisbon said, and they all whipped around to see her standing on the other side of the bullpen. "Van Pelt, Rigs, you come with me. Cho, you're on phones."

Van Pelt shot Rigsby a wide-eyed look of 'how-long-was-she-standing-there', then got up and followed the boss out of the bullpen, Rigsby following soon after.

…

Although she'd spaced out a few times, Lisbon coped rather well with being back at work. She found that she'd accidentally slip semi-unprofessional comments that Jane might've said, had he been there. Stuff like,

"Yeah right. It's obvious you two had _something_ going on." And then she'd snap her mouth closed, eyes wide, and receive a shocked expression from not only the suspect, but Van Pelt or Rigsby too.

…

When she finally got home, at around 8.30pm, she was worn out, tired, and frankly, hadn't gotten anywhere on the case. She dumped her bag by the couch and then sat down, putting her head in her hands. She shut her eyes. Listening to herself take a deep breath, she started to relax, then suddenly the buzzing of her phone in her bag interrupted the silence. She practically fell, no jumped down from the couch and into her bag, searching frantically to answer the call.

"This is Lisbon!" She almost yelled, after not checking the user ID, and panting a little.

"Hey, it's Cho. We got a lead."

Lisbon hoped her disappointment couldn't be felt through the phone. She stood from the kneeling position she had been in and began to pace around the room as Cho described the new evidence they'd found. Somehow though, she could quite listen to him, so she ended up cutting him off.

"That's great… You know what? How 'bout you and Rigs go check it out, or even leave it until morning."

"Uh.."

It seemed that for once Cho had no snappy comeback. There was silence for a long 5 seconds.

"Kay Boss, tomorrow then. Night."

He hung up, but Lisbon said "night" back anyway, then hung up and dropped her phone back into her bag. Sighing, she headed over to the fridge. It had only been two nights since Jane left and she couldn't concentrate on anything except her worry for him. Maybe it was because he hadn't replied to her text or called her yet.

Holding the fridge open with one hand, she glanced back over her shoulder at her bag lying on the floor. Maybe that text didn't go through… perhaps she should text him again…

She shut the fridge and walked back over to the couch, taking out her phone, she selected his name.

'Where u Jane?'

She sent the message and went back over to the fridge. Taking out a punnet of strawberries, Lisbon closed the fridge and headed upstairs to her room. A lovely light was shining in through the small window on the wall opposite the door. She sat on the small section of her bed bathed in that light, and ate the cool juicy strawberries slowly. Thinking. Then as her thoughts became too muddled, she spoke aloud, but quietly to herself.

'Teresa Lisbon put yourself together. It's been two days for Christ's sake.' She blinked hard at the thought of how stupid all this was. She looked over to the window. 'Jane… Where are you?'

Thanks so much for reading! Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaase leave me a review! Reviews mean updates guys! Thanks so much for reading! 3 3 3


	4. A Week Gone

Okay – First I'd just like to apologise for some of the spelling/grammar errors in the last chap – I was just reading it and realised how crappy it was :/ But this one will be better! Thanks, and cookies, go out to everyone still reading! Also a special thanks to Miss Peg, who has been giving me really helpful pointers to improve my writing :D And also to all my signed reviewers, Donnamour1969, SteeleSimz, (and miss peg) And a huge shout out to my no. 1 fan xD SBLover xD *waves* Thankyou all for your support and please enjoy and review!

**Chapter 4: A Week. Gone.**

It had been exactly a week since Jane had left, and still, he hadn't contacted her. Lisbon sat at her desk in her office, staring at the empty white couch across from where she sat. She had sent at least another five texts, and attempted to call him once, but didn't leave a message, angrily hanging up when it went to voicemail. Each text was practically the same thing. 'where are you?' 'u ok?' 'wuu2?' and all had practically the same reply. Nothing.

At this thought, Lisbon tore her eyes from the couch and looked instead, to the bullpen. She couldn't keep acting like this. All distracted, spacing out, mouthing off, it just wasn't professional. She decided she should go get a coffee as a distraction. Jane would contact her eventually. He just needed time.

Lisbon got up and headed out to the kitchenette, walking significantly faster than necessary.

…

While Lisbon was in her office, the other three agents had been talking; discussing the situation with Jane and Lisbon.

"Nah, we need to think about his motives." Said Cho, talking not of a suspect, but of their missing consultant, Jane.

"Motives for what?" Rigsby asked with a confused expression as he sat back in his chair.

"It was obvious wasn't it?" Grace asked, looking at Rigsby, "Jane _wanted_ Wainwright to fire him… but why?"

Rigsby looked from Grace to Cho and back again. "What- you're saying Jane _provoked _Wainwright?"

"You were there man." Said Cho. "You saw it, have you ever seen Jane speak like that? No. And neither have I."

Rigsby nodded in understanding. "Yeah, and by the look on the boss' face I'd say she hadn't either." Rigsby said, now leaning forward again, eager to accept this idea.

At the sound of the kitchenette's cupboards opening and closing, Van Pelt swiveled in her chair to see Lisbon raiding the cupboards – most likely for coffee, then finding nothing, mumbling, and moving to the next cupboard.

Grace couldn't help but feel sorry for her Boss, she couldn't half imagine what Lisbon was going through… Jane was their friend and colleague yes, but Lisbon was closer to Jane than she was to anyone else, and Grace doubted if Jane had anyone closer to him than Lisbon.

…

How could they have RAN OUT OF COFFEE. Lisbon opened another two doors of the kitchenette, and found plates. No coffee. She moved round to the first cupboard, located right above the kettle. Maybe she'd just overlooked it the first time. She opened the doors. Sugar. Sweetener. Tea. Well she _would _have tea, but then Jane would… oh.

Lisbon stepped back from the counter, her eyes still on the small box of teabags. She was holding her coffee mug tight to her stomach, as she remembered that Jane would not be angry if she took his- _the_ tea. He wouldn't even care. He wouldn't even _know._

"Hey Boss," Grace's soft and friendly voice interrupted Lisbon's thoughts, so suddenly that Lisbon's grip on the mug loosened, and the mug fell to the hard floor, smashing into about five or six pieces.

"Shoot." Lisbon whispered with so much frustration and venom that it sounded like she was trying to scare off a vicious herd of wolves. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned, realising suddenly that Van Pelt had seen her embarrassing reaction. "Sorry…"

"It's okay Boss, Rigsby'll get it, let's go out for a coffee." Van Pelt said with a calming smile.

Lisbon looked down at the shattered mug.

"Nah… I, I can't – there's work to do and-"

Cho and Rigsby's voices erupted from the bullpen.

"Go Boss!" "Have fun!" "We'll clean that up!"

Lisbon looked from the smiling faces in the bullpen, to the broken pieces of mug on the floor, and then back to Grace's concerned and smiling eyes.

"Come on Boss. Please?"

Lisbon sighed, losing eye contact, then looked up to Van Pelt again with a small smile.

"Yes, okay Van Pelt, thank you."

Please Review! And thank you so much for reading! Reviews are extremely appreciated! :D have a great day! :D:D


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